I have been fortunate enough to make six trips behind the old Iron Curtain since the collapse of the Soviet Union and another trip to a secular Islamic country.

In those seven trips comprising more than three months, I never encountered any problems with uniformed authority, although I was somewhat apprehensive because these were not places that historically put great value in civil liberties. Yet never did a uniformed officer stop me and ask me for my identity papers.

In the last couple of weeks, some legal visitors to Alabama have not been so fortunate. A German Mercedes-Benz manager was arrested on Nov. 16, and a Japanese Honda worker was ticketed earlier this week for allegedly violating the state’s infamous immigration law. Both cases received international coverage and should be a huge embarrassment to state leaders.

If I were head of a foreign corporation considering doing business in Alabama, the actions of the political leadership over the last few months would dissuade me. I would take my money and my jobs somewhere else, where the environment was more welcoming.

On a personal level, I now find myself wondering whether I stand a better chance of being asked to prove my identity in the state of Alabama than I do in a former Soviet republic. The idea that I might have to prove my right to be here offends me.

I do not blame law enforcement for this state of affairs, nor do I blame an officer on the street if he happens to be overly zealous in trying to enforce the law. The blame rests squarely with the Republican Legislature and the Republican governor.

This law was ill-conceived, confused, bigoted and xenophobic from the beginning. Conceived in Republican Party politics, this travesty has created havoc for law enforcement, school administrators, tax officials and others tasked with trying to actually enforce it.

Just this week, Alan Benefield, head of the Alabama Police Officers' Standards and Training Commission, said every sworn law enforcement officer in the state will be required to take four hours of specialized training because of the complexity of the law and the confusion it has caused.

The law has also prompted a number of legal challenges from a variety of sources, and the early rulings add to the confusion.

That the law is rooted in bigotry and xenophobia goes without saying. Remember that one of its parents considers people with skin darker than his own to be “aborigines.”

The first thing the Legislature should do when it convenes in the new year is to scrap this abomination, and leave immigration policy to the national government, where the authority properly lies.

Wayne Snow is managing editor of the Opelika-Auburn News. Contact him at wsnow@oanow.com or 334-737-2541.

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